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Johnnie St. Vrain: Longmont is safer than the news makes it seem

Longmont Times-Call

Posted:
03/19/2014 08:00:00 AM MDT

Despite high-profile crimes, such as the March 12 car theft in Longmont that led to car-jackings and a chase through the Denver Metro area, Longmont is quite a safe city. (Cliff Grassmick / Daily Camera)

Dear Johnnie: Longmont seems to end up in the news for all the wrong reasons. The latest incident involving the stolen car with a 4-year old inside that culminated in southeast Denver with two carjackings is only one example of the crime that occurs here.

Whenever bad news is reported in the media, Longmont seems to have a higher incidence of reports than any other city, except Denver. Friends and family who do not live here frequently make comments to me about how dangerous this city must be. It's not good publicity for those trying to attract new businesses and families to our area.

Does Longmont have a higher overall crime rate than other cities in the region, and if so, why is that? — Wondering If It's Safe To Live Here

Dear Wondering:Quick quiz. 1. Do you know what the feature article was on the front page of the Times-Call the day before the car chase? 2. How about the day after? (Answers below.)

The key phrase here is "in the news." Longmont is so often in the news because Longmont has a newspaper. When major crime happens in and around Longmont, we report on it. Even minor crime gets in the paper, through our Police Notes column and our crime map, which publishes every other Sunday.

Big enough news — especially the bad news — also tends to attract the attention of Denver television news teams, which then broadcast that information to their audiences.

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Wondering, you are more likely to pay attention to news about Longmont because you live here. Your friends and family are more likely to pay attention to it because they know you live here. (Both of my brothers from out of state called me the morning of the car chase.)

Bad news tends to get people's attention more than good news. How do I know? I can see our online statistics, and as much as people say they want to read the good news, the page views disagree. Traffic accidents, bank robberies, airplane crashes — those get the hits. And my observation is that people remember bad news longer.

But here's the good news: Longmont is statistically one of the safest cities in Colorado, a fact the Times-Call has reported. In December 2011, the city was named the second safest city in Colorado, based research by the magazine CQ. Last year, the Times-Call reported that major crime rates in Longmont have dropped 48 percent in the past decade, based on Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation numbers. Both were A1 stories, but my brothers didn't call me about them.

There are plenty of good things happening in Longmont all the time — businesses opening, neighbors helping neighbors, couples celebrating years together, students excelling in their work, musicians performing. All of these and other good things appear in the Times-Call on a regular basis, on the front page even.

Finally, Wondering, knowing the bad news can be a good thing. When crime has been a problem here, the attention given to it has caused members of this community to step up and do something about it. It's been recorded in the pages of this paper.

Quiz answers: 1. An article about how a nonprofit group is improving transit for people with disabilities. 2. An article about how reusable fixtures from the soon-to-be-demolished Twin Peaks Mall are being sold to keep waste out of the landfill. Good news, wouldn't you think?

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